Supporters are urging the Academy to include Sarah Jones, who was struck and killed by a freight train during pre-production on the Gregg Allman biopic in Georgia, in this year's tribute to Hollywood stars who have died.

More than 26,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to add the camera assistant who was struck and killed by a freight train last week in Georgia to the Oscars' "In Memoriam" segment on Sunday.

Sarah Jones, 27, was killed last Thursday during pre-production on the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider. The petition was launched on the Care2 website, an online community for activists.

“I worked with Sarah Jones on movies and TV shows in Georgia,” Care2 member Porter Versfelt of Georgia writes on the petition. “She was a sweet, friendly and talented young woman. Honouring her … will bring attention to safety in movie and television productions.”

A "Slates for Sarah" Facebook page has been set up, featuring comments and pictures of Sarah's name written on film slates.

The Facebook page already has nearly 30,000 likes, with photos and comments from crews across the U.S., Italy, Germany, South Africa, Singapore and elsewhere. The crew on TNT's Rizzoli & Isles were among the productions posting photos to the page.

People have also been tweeting and Instagramming photos with a "Slates for Sarah" hashtag.

Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev paid tribute to Jones, who worked on The CW show. Dobrev posted a #SlatesforSarah photo collage on Instagram, with members of the show's cast and crew holding up slates. The image is captioned, "Sarah Jones had the most beautiful smile that lit up our set for years…#SlatesForSarah #RIP."

Dobrev also urged her more than 4 million Twitter followers to sign the petition.